Military Chaplains Modernization Act of 2026

The American Council supports HB8769, the Military Chaplains Modernization Act of 2026, and urges every member of the House Armed Services Committee and the full House to vote yes. This bill strengthens the spiritual care infrastructure of the United States Army by clarifying who leads, who advises, and how that ministry is protected in law.

Under current law, the chaplaincy's leadership structure is incomplete. HB8769 adds three formally designated Deputy Chief of Chaplains positions covering the Regular Army, the Army Reserve, and the Army National Guard, each fixed at the grade of brigadier general. This means Reserve and National Guard soldiers, who constitute a vast portion of the total force, will have dedicated senior chaplaincy advocates at the highest levels of their respective chains, not as an informal practice but as a matter of statutory right.

The bill also elevates the Chief of Chaplains to the role of principal advisor to both the Secretary of the Army and the Chief of Staff on chaplaincy matters, religious support, strategic planning, and policy development. When decisions that touch the spiritual lives of soldiers are made at the highest levels of Army leadership, the person whose entire vocation is that care will now have a formal, codified seat at that table. We regard this as a matter of institutional justice to the men and women who serve.

At the unit level, HB8769 enumerates in statute the full range of chaplain duties: performing religious rites, rites of burial and marriage, crisis prevention and response, pastoral counseling, religious accommodation advising, and confidential privileged communications. It also requires chaplains to assist commanders in meeting their First Amendment and Religious Freedom Restoration Act obligations to the soldiers in their care. This is not bureaucratic detail. It is the law finally catching up to what faithful chaplains have always done on the ground.

Most importantly to the American Council, Section 3(c) of this bill establishes in federal law that a chaplain's duties shall be conducted in a manner consistent with the chaplain's sincerely held religious beliefs and the tenets of the chaplain's endorsing organization, and that chaplains shall have the right to conduct worship, preach, counsel, pray, and minister free from censorship, undue restriction, or fear of retribution. A chaplain who cannot minister from the fullness of his or her faith is not a chaplain; the chaplaincy's entire value to the soldier rests on the authenticity of that relationship. This bill protects it.

We call on constituents to contact their representatives now and ask them to move HB8769 forward. The men and women who carry our nation's burden in uniform deserve chaplains who are well-led, well-supported, and free to serve them with integrity.